Brandeis joins lawsuit seeking to block Trump action on research grants policy 

Brandeis University joined a lawsuit filed last week by top-tier U.S. research universities and professional organizations in higher education intended to block the Trump administration from drastically reducing the rate at which it reimburses institutions for overhead or “indirect costs.”

The proposed reduction is on hold after Judge Angel Kelley for the U.S. District Court in Boston issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from implementing this change, which would cost some universities tens of millions of dollars.

Separately, attorneys general from 22 states, including Massachusetts, filed suit to block the Trump administration policy change.

In a letter sent to the Brandeis community, senior administrators alerted faculty and staff to the nationwide temporary restraining order and said they “are optimistic about this new development.” They advised Brandeis researchers to continue using the federally negotiated indirect cost rate that has been in place.

“This allows faculty to continue their research without a pause in activity and to make important discoveries,” the letter said.

A nationwide list of affected institutions compiled by the New York Times showed that Brandeis received 77 NIH grants worth $32 million in 2024, and the university would have received $6 million less under the Trump administration proposal.

Federal support of indirect costs keeps the lights on by supporting building maintenance, utilities, waste disposal and other expenses necessary for research laboratories to function. The administration proposal would set a fixed reimbursement rate of 15% of grants, far below current rates that can exceed 50%, depending upon specific circumstances at individual institutions.

The suit filed in Boston called the Trump administration proposal “flagrantly unlawful” and stated “if allowed to stand, will devastate medical research at America’s universities. Cutting-edge work to cure disease and lengthen life spans will suffer, and our country will lose its status as the destination for solving the world’s biggest health problems.”

The suit argues, “At stake is not only Americans’ quality of life, but also our Nation’s enviable status as a global leader in scientific research and innovation.”

The proposed change would have a major impact in the Boston area. Massachusetts General Hospital would have lost $98 million, according to the New York Times analysis. Others include Brigham and Women’s Hospital ($77 million), Boston Children’s Hospital ($54 million), Boston University Medical Campus ($25 million), Harvard Medical School ($34 million), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ($35 million) and several other of the most prominent area institutions, among them Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University.

A spokesperson for Bentley University said the impact on the university would not be significant if the reduction in funding goes through.